Water Monitoring

Prof. Eric Wood is famous for his work in hydrology, extending into meteorology and climate science. In the late 1980s, he led the development of a new area of research associated with determining the scaling behaviour of catchment hydrologic response. Wood also developed spatially distributed hydrologic modelling, which included the handling of energy, as well as moisture transfer dynamics at the land surface. Some of this work was facilitated by the land-atmosphere field campaigns of the 1980s. Beginning in the early 1990s, many of these concepts were included in the ‘variable infiltration capacity’ macro-scale hydrology model, which is now used in a wide array of hydrologic prediction, water and energy balance, and ensemble forecasting applications. Our water network research team interviewed Prof. Wood on his research group's global drought monitoring system and its applications.